Email triage examines message content, sender, thread history, timing, and user rules to assign categories or priority. Common groups include messages requiring a response, informational mail, notifications, low-priority updates, and suspected spam.
Automated triage should be adjustable because importance is personal and context-dependent. Users need a way to correct mistakes, define important senders, inspect why a category was chosen, and recover messages that were routed incorrectly.
ELI5
Email triage sorts an inbox into useful groups so a person knows what to handle first. It is similar to putting physical mail into piles for urgent replies, useful information, routine notices, and unwanted material.
For example, a message from a key customer may go into "needs a response," while a delivery notification goes into a lower-priority category. The user should be able to move a message and teach the system that a particular sender is important.
